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Saturday, May 8, 2010

Essay: The War of the Worlds

Here is a mini-essay I wrote in my science fiction class a couple years ago. I admit that I'm not over fond of The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells (I actually decided to donate it to my local library when I weeded my book collection recently) but it was quite an interesting read.

We also watched the movie made in 1953, and I mention it in this short paper.

SPOILER ALERT

The War of the Worlds

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The book and the earliest movie of “The War of the Worlds” explore human nature.

Curiosity being part of human nature is found throughout the plot. First people are curious about the large meteorite that fell from the sky. They gathered around to look at it. When they realized that it was a vessel which contained living Martians, everyone began asking what they will be like, before they even emerged from their vessel. Another example is when in the movie, the scientist and woman are trapped inside the house and surrounded by the Martians. Despite their danger, the scientist is excited and saying that he has got to get a good look at the Martians.

It also shows what people will resort to in order to survive. Once the world has been turned upside down, the normal rules of good society are put aside for a time. People will break into buildings to find food and shelter. In a hurry to escape danger, a crowd will trample anyone who falls into the mud, and leave them lying helpless. In the book, the protagonist hits the curate in the head with the blunt part of an axe when the curate created enough noise that the protagonist was certain the Martians would be attracted.

There is also the subject of evolution, and how it may effect our humanity. The physiology of the Martians is described in the book. The Martians evolved to the point where they no longer had any body part that is not essential for living – evolution had reduced them to eyes, brains, ears, and hands. Essentially just a head, with no body, just retaining tentacles that act as hands. They did not even have a digestive system. The result was: “Without the body the brain would, of course, become a mere selfish intelligence, without any of the emotional substratum of the human being” (102). From this the conclusion may be drawn that we need more than just the bare essentials, the few things which the Martians have, to be truly human.